Trump: Hawaii officials 'made a mistake' with false alert

President Donald Trump on Sunday said Hawaii officials "made a mistake" when a false alert went out that said the island was about to be hit by a ballistic missile attack, and he said the federal government would be involved going forward.

"That was a state thing, but we are going to now get involved with them," Trump told reporters in Florida. "They took responsibility. They made a mistake."

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Hawaii officials said Saturday that "human error" caused an incorrect emergency alert to go out telling residents to seek shelter. It took more than 40 minutes for a correction to be sent, despite the fact that officials said they knew within minutes that there was no threat. Hawaii Gov. David Ige and top emergency officials have pledged a probe into the matter.

The White House said Saturday that Trump had been briefed, but he had not yet weighed in. Trump's Cabinet has yet to test formal plans for how to respond to a domestic missile attack.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement on Sunday that the government of Hawaii "did not have reasonable safeguards or process controls in place to prevent the transmission of a false alert."

Recent tensions between the U.S. and North Korea contributed to fears the warning could be legitimate. Hawaii recently tested a nuclear attack siren that had not been used since the Cold War.

"We hope it won’t happen again," Trump said Sunday. "Part of it is people are on edge, but maybe eventually we will solve the problem so they won’t have to be so on edge.”